Complexity in Design

by Bob Colwell Computer, October 2005 At its most basic, what engineers do is pit their intellect, training, experience, and intuition -- and that of their design teams -- against an implacable, relentless adversary: nature itself. I don’t mean that an actual battle is going on; after all, only one of the would-be combatants even knows (or cares) that there is any contest. Students of engineering are first taught to "follow the rules" -- guidelines for design that have proven over time to result in systems that behave as intended. Civil engineers learn about traffic patterns and human driving behaviors so they can design better roads. They study strengths of materials so that their bridges will be economical and reliable. When a bridge collapses, the rules are changed to incorporate the hard-won learning. But that’s not all there is to it. Read more